My interests are photography, genealogy, writing, and travel. Actually, I find that genealogy itself encompasses all of these interests. So, this blog will be about my travels on the road to find our long-lost cousins; to discover and record our family history, including (auto)biographies, in both text and photos.
To see how a particular person mentioned here fits into our family tree, LINK to my Father's or Mother's Genealogical web site (scroll down, right column).

Friday, November 14, 2008

Small World Department- Delfosse Descendant

I think it is because I do genealogy that I am so aware of people and events around me. Take a few days ago for example when a house guest and I were touring Old Salem in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Old Salem is a “living museum” created within the limits of the city. It was founded about 1753, as a settlement for a religious sect known as the Moravians from former Moravia in Bohemia, Germany. Today, Moravia is in western portion of the Republic of Czech. The descendants of the Moravians, with the help of others, preserved many of the homes of the original settlement and have recreated many of the shops and activities of the original settlers such as gardening and baking and gunsmiths.

My guest and I prepared to take a break on this warm, sunny Fall day and eat our fresh raisin and oatmeal cookies we had just purchased from the Moravian Bakery. I noticed the lady sitting across from me wore a name tag identifying her as Darlene Delfosse. I told her I was interested in her unique surname because one of my ancestors married a Delfosse.

“Oh, my husband was a Delfosse from Smoke Run, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania”, she informed me.

“And it’s nice that you pronounced the name correctly” she added. (I pronounced the ending like “boss” with a silent “e”).

Well that clinched it. Her late husband was undoubtedly related to the former Mae Louise Delfoss, who was the wife of my father’s step brother, Richard M. Kramp. Mrs. Mae Kramp, nee. Delfoss, or Mary as we called her, was a daughter of John B. “Jack” Delfosse and the granddaughter of Desire Delfosse and his wife, Marie. The progenitors had immigrated from Lievin, in northern France, in the 1880’s and settled in Pennsylvania. They had nine other children besides Jack Delfosse.

Image: Mrs. Darlene Delfosse, of Bern, North Carolina, whose husband's family line is related through marriage to our Kramp Family Line from Pennsylvania.

Of course, I did not have my computer with me; nor did I have my genealogy books and printouts nearby. And I didn’t even think of giving her one of my personal cards- which I had left at home anyway. From now on, I will carry several cards with me- at least giving information on how to access this blog. I wish I could have shown Darlene the following photograph taken at IOOF Cemetery, Brisbin, PA, which shows the tombstones of her husband’s ancestors.

Image (above): The Delfosse Plot at IOOF Cemetery, Brisbin, in southeastern Clearfield County, PA. Desire and Marie Delfosse were the grandparents of Mae Louise “Mary” Delfosse, who married Richard Melvin Kramp, son of Richard Otto Kramp and Bertha, nee. Fox. Louise M. Delfosse was the first of ten children born to Desire and Marie.

Incidentally, Mrs. Mary (Delfosse) Kramp was the last and only KRAMP listed in the Clearfield County (PA) telephone book before she died in August 2005.

One more note on the Delfosse name: On a recent car ride in Virginia, on state route 29, about halfway between Charlottsville and Danville, I noticed a road sign announcing the location of "Delfosse Winery". I better get up there again soon, as I may have a family discount waiting for me on a case of my favorite libation.

References and Links:The Defosse Winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I would have never seen the details if I had not blogged this entry. It was there in Google all this time waiting for me to search and find it.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Hello Bob,What a great adventure...you are not kidding about living your genealogy. It is everywhere you look. I have often said "Life is the teacher" but to that one could add, "Life is a Genealogy." You have proven this over and over again. Good hunting and discovery on your travels!Sincerrely,Ben WilliamsHessian Re-enactorMember of the FPSB

Hi Bob-My mother was Ella Dora (Delfosse) Davies and the sister of Mae (Delfosse) Kramp. What a small world this truly has become. We live in Seattle, WA. We were just in Pennsylvania last summer for a visit and went to the cemetery from your picture. It's so great to hear the name Delfosse again.Rachelle Gary

Hello Rachelle, I wish you had left your email address. I have a few old pictures of Mary Delfosse's husband, Richard Melvin Kramp, that I could share with you. Maybe you will visit again. bobbykramp(at)yahoo.com

Footnote

Getting the Most from this Blog

Most images, but not all, can be enlarged by clicking on them. Maximum size is usually 1024 x 960 pixels. Alternatively, or if image won't enlarge, link to my Picasa album to see SLIDE SHOW of full views and MAPPED locations for images. Always use your browser's back arrow key to return to blog. Hint: key f-11 to enlarge screen view, f-11 again to return.

To see where individual family members or ancestors mentioned in this blog fit into the big picture, that is the big TREE, link to either my father's genealogical web site or my Mother's. There, you will find genealogical databases with name indexes. Go to top of page, right column

The database at my mother's branch web site will be changed soon to the same format as my father's database (pedigrees and indexes rather than Modified Register).

Most entries have dates. If not, more than one entry was made on that day. Scroll up to first entry for date. Or, note date in title.